UN Human Rights Council ratifies Gaza 2014 report


July 4, 2015
Sarah Benton

This posting has 4 items:
1) RT: Netanyahu vs. UN: Israeli PM slams UNHRC after its report ratified;
2) Ha’aretz: UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution condemning Israel over Gaza war report, Barak Ravid;
3) WP: UN rights body backs call for accountability in Gaza war;
4) Ma’an news: Palestinian FM praises UNHRC vote: ‘We have a duty to end impunity’;


Operation Cast Lead, 2008/09, 1,400 Palestinians, 13 Israelis killed. Photo shows an Israeli air strike on Rafah during the January 2009 conflict. Photo by Abdalrahman Khat3b / AP.


Netanyahu vs. UN: Israeli PM slams UNHRC after its report ratified

By RT
July 04, 2015

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the UN Human Rights Council following a resolution accepting a UNHRC report, which presented evidence of war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas in the summer of 2014.

It urges the implementation of the report’s recommendations and calls for proper prosecution of Israeli officials responsible for the alleged violations.

The decision comes on the one year anniversary of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge,” which was launched in response to rocket attacks from Gaza. The commission determined that 1,462 Palestinian civilians were killed, one-third of whom were children. Israeli losses amounted to 67 soldiers and six civilians.

“The UN Human Rights Council is not interested in the facts and is not really interested in human rights,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Forty-one countries voted in favour of the resolution, while the US was the only country to vote against it. India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained. The resolution was presented by the Palestinian delegation and backed by Muslim states.

Netanyahu attacked the UNHRC, blaming the organization for condemning Israel on the day a projectile launched from Sinai hit southern Israel.

“On the day on which Israel was fired at from Sinai, and at a time when ISIS is committing vicious terrorist attacks in Egypt, as [Syrian President Bashar] Assad slaughters his people in Syria, and as the number of arbitrary executions per annum climbs in Iran – the UN Human Rights Council decides to condemn the State of Israel for no fault of its own, for acting to defend itself from a murderous terrorist organization,” he added.

The Israeli leader stressed that UNHRC has adopted more resolutions against Israel than the sum of all resolutions against other countries. The council “cannot call itself a human rights council … Those who fear to openly attack terrorism will – in the end – be attacked by terrorism.”

Neither this report, nor any other criticism, will stop Israel from defending its own citizens, according to the prime minister.

“The State of Israel acted to defend itself against a murderous terrorist organization,” he claimed referring to the war in Gaza.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu reportedly questioned his country’s membership in the UNHRC. “In light of the [UN Gaza] report, we will consider whether or not to stay in the Human Rights Council,” Netanyahu said, according to Army Radio.



Operation Pillar of Defence, November 2012. 167 Palestinians were killed and six Israelis. Photo shows destruction of PM Haniyeh’s offices, Gaza City. Photo by Majed Hamdan, AP.

UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution condemning Israel over Gaza war report

Resolution condemns Israel’s targeting of innocents but completely ignores Hamas rocket fire; Netanyahu: Council neither interested in facts nor human rights.

By Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz
July 03, 2015

The United Nations Human Rights Council decided on Friday to adopt a resolution condemning Israel over the UN report into the Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.

41 countries voted in favour of the resolution, while one country – the U.S. – voted against.

India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained.

The fact that India abstained reflects a significant policy change by Delhi; traditionally, India voted in favour of all anti-Israel resolutions in UN institutions. Friday’s abstention is another sign of warming ties between India and Israel since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.

Officials at the Prime Minister’s Office expressed appreciation for the “moral stand” taken by the U.S. against “the hypocritical UNHRC resolution.” The officials added that in recent days Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the Indian premier, the Kenyan president and the prime minister of Ethiopia and asked them to abstain.

Netanyahu himself said in a statement that the UNHRC is neither interested “in facts nor in true human rights.”

The resolution welcomes the UN Human Rights Council report, which found evidence of alleged war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas during the Gaza conflict in 2014. The resolution calls for the implementation of the report and its recommendations. It also calls for an end to the impunity of Israeli officials responsible for alleged war crimes.

The resolution, which was drafted by the Palestinians and Arab states, condemns Israel’s targeting of innocent civilians and completely ignores the rockets launched by Hamas; it also ignores the inquiry’s criticism of the Palestinian side.

The resolution calls on all UN officials to implement the report’s recommendations, and on all UNHRC member states to ensure the application of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories. The resolution also states that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights must report on the implementation at the next council meeting in several months’ time.

Israeli Ambassador Eviatar Manor opened his speech with a quote by Hans Christian Andersen. The author, said Manor, “famously that the King is naked. So let me assume the role of the little boy in the story and tell you- this Council has lost its bearing.”

Manor added: “I have no interest in debating the content of the resolution. It is an anti-Israeli manifesto. I will state, however, that the resolution distorts the intention of the authors of the report by completely ignoring alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.”

According to Manor, Israel went “to extraordinary lengths” to avoid harming civilians during Operation Protective Edge, and that it is “fully committed” to investigating any alleged violation of international law. “This Council acts as an agent provocateur feeding the flames, not extinguishing them,” he concluded.

Palestinian ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi strongly assailed Israel, saying that the UN investigative commission’s recommendations regarding the Gaza war must be adopted and implemented quickly. He said that the “reality in which Israel stands above international law must be changed.”

The Saudi representative condemned Israel, saying it was the world’s biggest violator of international law. “Israel should be brought to justice in order to implement the committee’s recommendations” said the Saudi diplomat.

The American ambassador said that the U.S. administration is concerned by the resolution, which harms the important work being done by the Human Rights Council. He said that the report was biased against Israel, focusing only on alleged violations by Israel with no reference to alleged violations by Palestinians which were mentioned in the report. This, he said, shows the partiality of the Council.

The Lithuanian ambassador, speaking on behalf of European Union countries which are members of the Council, said that he and his colleagues had gone to great lengths to ensure that the resolution would be more balanced than its initial wording. He said that it is too early to take a stand regarding the report, which must be studied carefully along with its recommendations, before considering implementation. Nevertheless, he stressed that European Union states which are members of the Human Rights Council believe that they managed to balance the resolution, which is why they decided to vote in its favor.

France’s representative clarified that a confrontation such as occurred last summer in Gaza must not repeat itself. He noted that those who committed war crimes should be prosecuted, regardless of which side they are on. He lamented the fact that Israel did not cooperate with the UN commission of inquiry. He also stressed that the resolution should have condemned the firing of rockets by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, but said that the final version was balanced, which is why France supported it.

Britain’s representative said that his country condemns the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas and the use it made of UN facilities for firing missiles, as well as the use of civilians as human shields. “All of these constitute violations of international law” he said. “Israel has the right to defend itself against attacks, but force must be used proportionately while distinguishing between civilians and military targets.” He added that Britain wanted the text to address more the threat against Israel by terrorist organizations in Gaza and to Israel’s right to defend itself, but that despite this he would vote to adopt the resolution.

Netanyahu: Israel wrongfully condemned

Prime Minister Netanyahu sharply criticized the UNHRC following the passing of the resolution. “On a day when Israel is under fire from Sinai, and while in Egypt ISIS is carrying out cruel terror attacks, Assad is slaughtering his own people in Syria and in Iran the number of arbitrary executions rises year after year – the United Nations Human Rights Council decides to wrongfully condemn Israel… which acted to defend itself from a murderous terrorist organization,” he said.

“Israel is the most stable democracy in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said, “ensuring equal rights to all of its citizens and operating in accordance to international law. Those who are afraid to openly attack terror will end up being attacked by terror.”

Netanyahu said that the UNHRC, which has adopted to this day “more resolutions against Israel than all of its resolutions against other countries, can’t call itself a human rights council.” He added Israel will continue to defend its citizens from those who call and seek to destroy it.



Operation Protective Edge, July-August 2014. ‘At least’ 2,104 Palestinian killed, including 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women. 73 Israelis were killed, of whom 60 were IDF members after they had invaded the Gaza Strip. Photo shows destruction of Shujaiyeh, eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City on July 2nd. Photo by AFP.

UN rights body backs call for accountability in Gaza war

By Frank Jordans,  AP / Washington Post
July 03, 2015

BERLIN — The U.N.’s top human rights body backed calls Friday for accountability in last year’s conflict in Gaza, in which hundreds of Palestinian civilians and six Israeli civilians were killed.

The decision by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council has no binding effect, but adds to pressure for war crimes prosecutions before the International Criminal Court.

Israel condemned the move, saying it was one-sided and ignored the fact that Israel is conducting its own investigations into possible wrongdoing.

Forty-one of the council’s 47 members voted in favor of the resolution, which cited a recent U.N. report concluding that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups may have committed grave crimes during the conflict.

Five countries abstained while the United States voted against the text, saying it was biased against Israel. European countries backed the resolution, but said they were disappointed it didn’t explicitly mention rockets fired by Palestinian militant group Hamas – which controls Gaza – toward civilian areas in Israel.

More than 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed during the fighting, according to U.N. and Palestinian officials, while 73 people, including six civilians, died on the Israeli side.

The resolution stressed that all those responsible for human rights violations must be held to account and effective remedies should be given to all victims, including reparations.

Israel has strongly resisted allegations its troops violated international law, claims that could have serious implications after Palestinians joined the International Criminal Court, where they are pursuing war crimes charges against Israel.

“The U.N. Human Rights Council is not interested in the facts and is not really interested in human rights,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the council’s decision.

He added that Israel will continue to defend its citizens against “those who call for its destruction and take daily action to achieve this goal.”

Palestinian U.N. envoy Ibrahim Khraishi welcomed the resolution.

“I think those who oppose this resolution or those who abstain from the vote will be contributing to ongoing violations and abuses against civilians,” he said.

Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.




One of the UNWRA schools – Abu Haseen – deliberately shelled by the IDF despite housing refugees and despite having provided their location details to the IDF. To the anger of UNRWA, Hamas had stored, and fired, munitions from one school. July 30, 2014. Photo from AFP

Palestinian FM praises UNHRC vote: ‘We have a duty to end impunity’

By Ma’an news
July 04, 2015

BETHLEHEM — The Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs on Saturday welcomed “strong” international support for a resolution passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to hold accountable those who violated international law during last summer’s bloody Gaza war.

“There is no path to justice and peace without accountability,” Foreign Minister Riad Malki said following the UNHRC vote to adopt an extensive UN report on the conflict.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict announced last month that it had gathered “credible allegations” that both Israeli and Palestinian sides had committed war crimes during the conflict.

“We will not accept that the repeated crimes against our people go unpunished,” Malki said.
Forty-five countries, including France, Germany and Britain supported the resolution.
India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained, and the United States was the only country to vote against the resolution.

Last summer’s war left over 2,200 Palestinians dead, including over 550 children, 80 of whom were three years old or less, Maliki said, adding that entire families has been killed during the Israeli assault.

“For them, for the family of Mohammad Abu Khdeir and so many other Palestinian families, for our people still under occupation and blockade, and deprived of their inalienable rights, and to prevent the recurrence of such crimes, we have a duty to end impunity,” the minister said, referring to Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, who was abducted and killed by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem last year.


Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Maalki, July 2015. Screenshot.

Israel refused to co-operate with the UN commission, which was was denied entry to Israel and the conflict area, and relied instead on more than 280 confidential interviews and some 500 written submissions for its findings.

Malki said: “The refusal by Israel, the occupying power, to grant such access is an implicit recognition… of crimes of concern to the international community as a whole and we call on states and UN bodies to take the required steps in this regard.”

UNHRC’s resolution called for perpetrators of human rights violations to be be brought before “domestic or international criminal justice mechanisms” and referred specifically to the International Criminal Court.

Palestine joined the ICC in April and has been seeking to open criminal proceedings against Israel, with much of their focus on last summer’s devastating war.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US for its vote against Friday’s resolution.

Israeli media reported that he had asked the Kenyan president and Indian and Ethiopian prime ministers to abstain prior to the vote.

Israel’s representative to the UN, Eviatar Manor, lambasted the resolution, accusing UNHRC of being an “agent provocateur.”

However, Human Rights Watch said it “sends a strong message that the perpetrators of serious violations should be held to account. Israel and Palestine, as well as Hamas, should respect the resolution’s call to cooperate with the International Criminal Court.”

The ICC, set up in 2002, is the world’s only permanent independent body to try the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

AFP contributed to this report.

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